Patents

This post was first published on 15th March 2011. It is beyond contention that prior art search is an absolutely critical step in acquiring a patent, irrespective of the technology domain the invention relates to. Although considerable amount of time and effort needs to be spent for conducting a comprehensive patent search or any invention, in case of inventions pertaining to the pharmaceutical technology, the time and efforts triplicate. Here is why. The technology space in the pharmaceutical sector is extremely crowded which in turn crowds the patent space. Although this is very encouraging for researchers, it is a nightmare for patent...

This post was first published on 14th March, 2011. In India, just like in other jurisdiction once an application for filing the patent has been made, the application shall be published for public inspection by 18 months from date of filing or priority date. Indian Patent Act 1970 makes it mandatory to publish the patent applications for Public inspection in the official gazette. Such publications in official gazette shall be issued every Friday by patent office. Indian Patent office provides publication of official gazette in their website mentioned below: http://ipindia.nic.in/. This is a very progressive step taken by the Patent office which...

This talk on Trade Secrets and Patents was delivered by Ms. Vinita Radhakrishnan at the IIPLA 5th IP Conference held at the Carlton Palace Hotel, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). You may view the full presentation below. [slideshare id=130475180&doc=iiplapresentation-190204133117] Topics Covered in the presentation include:
1. The shift from traditional medicine to modern medicine
2. Making a choice between patents and trade secrets
3. Pros and Cons of Trade Secrets and Patents
4. IP Protection Models
5. Invention based IP strategy
6. Industry based IP strategy
7. Industry Trends
8. Top 10 pharma companies and their patenting trends
9. Patent trends (decrease in patents filed)
10. Number of patent applications filed by pharma...

This post was first published on 14th March, 2011. The process of filing a patent involves two important steps before the application forms are prepared. The first step is prior art search and the second step is drafting of the patent specification. Many a time, companies and inventors question the value of a prior art search before filing the patent. While some companies perform comprehensive prior art searches before drafting patent specifications, others do not carry out any search at all. Both the approaches have advantages and disadvantages. Advantages
The main advantages of performing a patent search before drafting are:
a. Opinion on patentability;
b....

This post was first published on 12th March 2011. Cricket is a popular sport played across the world. After India won the Cricket World Cup in 1983, the sport has gained so much of popularity in India that today every kid wants to be a cricketer. But cricketer are always prone to injuries. And these injuries can be fatal enough to ruin a flourishing career of a cricketer. There are some instances which shows that cricket can be a dangerous game if proper protective equipment is not used. One of the most sad and perturbing moments in cricket was when Raman...

“Call for Papers on IP rights by Nirma University, Apple in no mood to relent in fight against VirnetX, Munich Court dismisses four of Qualcomm’s eight patent infringement suits, Tesla Motors opens all its patents for use, WIPO Technology Trends 2019 – “Artificial Intelligence” and other Weekly Patent News updates” presented by the Patent attorneys and experts of BananaIP Counsels, India’s leading Patent Firm. Quote of the Week
“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.” Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover. Indian Patent Statistics
A total of 889 patent applications have been published in...

This post was first published on 5th March, 2011.
Authored by Mr. Vijaykumar Shivpuje.
Abstract:
Patent Linkage with regulatory approval procedure is a sensitive issue for Indian pharmaceutical industry which includes mainly generic companies. This essay discusses the implications of patent linkage and the current scenario in India. Further, the recent developments related to patent linkage including the Bayer v/s Cipla decision and India-EU free trade agreements are discussed.
Introduction:
Patent Linkage refers to the communication between the national regulatory authorities and the Patent Office to prevent marketing approval of generic drugs until after the expiration of patents covering the drug product or approved...

This post was first published on 4th March, 2011. A new debate is in the air after the humdinger of a match between India and England that ended in a tie in the ICC World cup 2011. The Indian team is unhappy with the dubious decision of the Umpire that ruled England’s Ian Bell not out and ultimately cost India the match. Umpires are an inseparable part of a cricket match. The umpire selection panel has selected 18 umpires excluding a reserve umpire so as to officiate the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
There are many instances in the history of cricket...

This post was first published on 3rd March, 2011.
The war between Stanford and Roche with respect to ownership of certain diagnostic processes is now being argued before the US Supreme Court. The dispute started with Stanford filing an infringement suit against Roche alleging infringement of its patents relating to methods for evaluating treatments for HIV. Roche asserted that it was not liable for patent infringement because it has ownership in the patents on account of its take over of Cetus, a company that developed the methods.
One of the inventors of the methods, Holodniy, joined Stanford in 1988 and started pursuing...

This post was first published on 3rd March 2011.
Every cricket fan around the world must be enjoying cricket’s biggest festival - World Cup 2011. If we look at the cricket calendar, we come to know that the number of cricket matches played nowadays has increased staggeringly. Cricket is played throughout the year in different forms i.e. Test, ODI, 20-20 and so on. Due to this some of the cricket tournaments have to be scheduled during monsoon time as well. Rain has always been an invincible force against cricket game. Cricket is considered as a religion in India having vast followers,...